For the Bearkats, that's becoming exponentially easier with each appearance in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision final.

Coming on the heels of their second straight trip to the FCS title game – where they again fell to repeat champion North Dakota State – they signed 19 players, including three from the Houston area.

"We're real excited," SHSU coach Willie Fritz said. "We feel like we're going after maybe a little higher-profile kid than we've been able to go after in the past, coming off a couple appearances in the national championship game.

"We needed to get some offensive linemen in the class, and we signed six of them that we feel good about."

Sam Houston has been on TV 18 times in the last two years, eight times on ESPN, so now when the Bearkats visit high schools across the state, their coaches and players know who they are.

Fritz said that familiarity helped them land more players with multiple Division I offers.

The offensive line class includes Katy's Aaron Sowell (6-0, 285), one of "three or four" offensive linemen who could play as true freshmen. He can line up at both guard spots and center.

"He's won the highest crown you can get in high school football (Katy's Class 5A state championship last season), comes from a tremendous program, and we think he's got the mass where, if he does everything right this summer, he could come in and play for us next season," Fritz said.

"He can play a lot of different spots and he's very athletic. He's a guy who's either going to be a big linebacker for us or a speed guy on the edge playing the defensive end position."

TSU added 18 players with its 2013 recruiting class, nine of whom already are on campus.

Second-year coach Darrell Asberry filled needs on the line, with three offensive and two defensive linemen, and at quarterback, with Plano East's Mario Smalls (6-2, 220) among three QBs signed.

"This was a very important class for us," Asberry said. "It gave us a full year of recruiting, and it's always good when you can get a full year in. We got a good mixture of junior college and high school kids, and guys who can come in and help us right now change the face of the program."

Asberry was particularly excited about DL Aaron Hush (6-4, 290), who signed with Temple out of high school, then transferred to Dean College in New York, leaving him with three years of eligibility.

"He's very explosive off the ball, has good size, just like we like, and he can play inside and outside," Asberry said.

Prairie View picked up 14 players.

PVAM coach Heishma Northern said they addressed needs at defensive tackle and linebacker, while leaving room to add players later.

Among the new Panthers are Eisenhower wide receiver Rayshawn Givins (6-2, 185) and Yates running back Arthur Lockett (5-9, 170).

"We're going to put the ball in (Lockett's) hands as many ways as possible," Northern said. "He's a very outstanding young man, very good football player, (and) was up for a few awards in the city of Houston.

"He's a little bit under-sized, but in our offense he's going to be perfect."

All three schools still have needs to fill and are holding out hope of adding players who went unsigned Wednesday.

Prairie View lost a couple quarterbacks it hoped to sign and also needs a cornerback. TSU is looking for receivers and a DB, and Fritz said SHSU may look at junior colleges to add skill players.

"A lot of these Texas kids go outside the state, and after the allure of the size of the stadium and those kinds of things wear off, they're still 1,000 miles from home and they want to come on back," Fritz said.

"We'll probably take three or four transfer kids when it's all said and done."